The present invention relates to a rear structure of a vehicle equipped with an airbag device.
Conventionally, vehicles, such an automotive vehicle, have been developed to prevent a rearward move of a passenger seated in a rear seat provided in front of a rear vertical-wall portion at a rear end portion of a vehicle in a vehicle rear collision for the protection of the passenger.
For example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0066022 discloses a vehicle structure, in which an airbag device is provided at an upper portion of the rear end portion of the vehicle and this airbag device inflates an airbag into a space between the rear vertical-wall portion and the rear seat in the vehicle rear collision in order to prevent the rearward move of the passenger seated in the rear seat. Further, this discloses another structure in which a seatback of the rear seat is rotated (inclined) forwardly by an electric actuator in order to prevent the rearward move of the passenger.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-296944 discloses a vehicle structure, in which the rear seat is moved forwardly by a cylinder device so that the space between the rear seat and the rear vertical-wall portion can be expanded in advance to an inflation of the airbag in order to inflate the airbag securely between the rear seat and the rear vertical-wall portion in the vehicle rear collision.
However, the structures disclosed in the above-described publications merely aimed at the prevention of the rearward move of the passenger seated in the rear seat in the vehicle rear collision, but not properly considered a secure support of a head portion of the passenger in the vehicle rear collision for the protection of the passenger's head portion.